Syrian refugees in Istanbul sent from pillar to post
Over 200,000 Syrian refugees, most of them without legal papers, struggle to find shelter and work in Istanbul as winter sets in.
ISTANBUL — I was at the cashier of our local grocery store, chatting with another customer as I waited for my change. Suddenly, a small hand at the end of a thin smudged arm pushed us apart to put a couple of coins on the counter. In return, the grocer took two cigarettes out of a pack and pushed them toward the hand without a word.
The hand belonged to a boy, half the size of my 11-year-old daughter. As I watched him place one cigarette behind an ear and light up the other, I could not help but exclaim, "My goodness, he is what? Five, six? And smoking already!”
The boy either didn't hear me or didn't care to react. He walked away puffing, seemingly in a happy mood, unaware of the uneasy feeling that such adult-like behavior in so young a person had left in us.
We were silent for a moment. Then, the grocer said, “These are Syrian kids. They live here in the park now. Cigarettes are the least of it.”
